A urbanização é uma das ações antrópicas que mais crescem no mundo atual. Por este motivo pesquisas ecológicas são realizadas nas cidades com o objetivo de reconhecer seus impactos, e as aves são utilizadas como uma das ferramentas para diagnóstico ambiental. Assim, o presente estudo avaliou o método de levantamento de aves por ponto fixo, método amplamente utilizado em estudos com aves em diversos ambientes. Foram analisados três pontos que podem influenciar a amostragem de aves através deste método: 1) o habitat onde o levantamento é realizado, observando a composição dos elementos urbanos existentes na cidade; 2) o intervalo de tempo adotado em cada ponto fixo para a coleta de dados; 3) os fatores potencialmente prejudiciais a observação de aves, tais como o ruído sonoro urbano e a presença de conversas causadas por pessoas curiosas. Com a área de estudo estratificada a partir da quantidade de cobertura arbórea existente nos bairros abrangidos, 90 unidades amostrais foram selecionadas. Nestes, foram quantificados os elementos urbanos presentes, a riqueza, o número de contato de aves, os ruídos sonoros e a presença de conversas. Os resultados demonstraram que a reunião de um número maior de espécies e contatos pode ser favorecida pelas áreas de cobertura arbórea, enquanto áreas construídas e pisos impermeáveis podem prejudicar o número de espécies, sendo o número de contato prejudicado apenas pelas áreas de pisos impermeáveis. O número de espécies observadas não foi significativamente diferente após nove minutos de coleta de dados, entretanto o número de contatos continuou crescendo, demonstrando haver recontagens de indivíduos após este intervalo. A riqueza de espécies foi significativamente diferente entre os dados coletados no período seco e no período chuvoso. Conforme houve a maior presença do ruído sonoro urbano menor foi o número de espécies e contatos obtidos nos pontos. A incidência de conversas ocasionadas por pessoas curiosas foi baixa não prejudicando as coletas de dados. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que: o levantamento de aves no meio urbano através do ponto fixo deve considerar a composição do ambiente, já que a riqueza e o número de contato podem variar de acordo com a presença dos diferentes elementos; sejam adotados intervalos de tempo por ponto não superiores a nove minutos; quando possível diferentes épocas do ano devem ser utilizadas para as coletas de dados, visto que podem ser encontradas diferenças entre as estações; sejam escolhidos locais e momentos para as coletas de dados com baixo ruído sonoro. Por fim, o método de ponto fixo foi considerado eficaz para amostragem de aves urbanas, desde que tais cuidados sejam considerados. / The urbanization is one of the anthropic activities with the highest growth rate in the world. Due to this reason, ecological research are conducted in the cities with the goal of recognizing its impacts, using birds as one of the tools to assess the environmental diagnosis. Therefore, the present study assessed the samples by point counts method, which is broadly used for bird census in many environments. Three issues that might affect the sampling of the birds by using this method were analyzed: 1) the habitat where the sampling is performed, observing the urban elements presented in the city; 2) the period of point count duration spent in each sample; 3) the potential factors which disturb the birds detectability, as urban noise and presence of curious citizens who can talk to the researcher in the point count. The research area was stratified from the amount of tree canopies in the selected suburbs, where 90 sample units were selected. In these units, the presence of urban elements, the richness, the number of birds contacts, the noise and the presence of conversations were quantified. The results showed that the number of species and contacts can be benefited from the tree canopy area, while build up areas and impermeable grounds may harm the number of species, although the contact number is harmed only by the impermeable grounds. The number of observed species did not differ significantly after nine minutes of sample period, however the number of contacts kept increasing, demonstrating a repeated counting birds after this interval. The species richness was significantly different between the samples collected in dry and wet seasons. As the urban noise increased, a lower number of species and birds contacts was acknowledged. The incidence of conversation performed by curious people was low, not being able to harm the sample collection. The results suggest that: the bird survey inside the cities by point counts should consider the composition of environment, since the richness and the number of birds contacts can vary according to the presence of different elements; the time of interval should not exceed nine minutes; when possible, different annual seasons should be used for sampling, since differences may be found among them; places and moments for the sampling should be chosen with a low noise. Finally, the point counts method was considered efficient for the sampling of urban birds, provided that such care are considered.

The direct sampling of analytes from surfaces under atmospheric conditions followed by mass spectrometric analysis is an ever expanding area of scientific research. Atmospheric pressure surface sampling and ionization techniques for mass spectrometry (MS) offer the ability to interrogate samples that could not be studied under vacuum conditions required of more traditional MS surface analysis techniques. The geometry and nature of materials or surfaces that can be analyzed has been greatly expanded as a result. This dissertation characterizes and shows applications of liquid microjunction surface sampling probe (LMJ-SSP) electrospray ionization systems. The presented work compares traditional analytical work flows with novel analytical workflows utilizing LMJ-SSP-MS technology. The increase of throughput and/or chemical information without the sacrifice of analytical figures of merit is shown and discussed. The readout of analytical surfaces; surfaces where analyte has ended up on a surface in a traditional work flow and not just placed there, constitutes the focus of what is presented in the preceding work. Finally the prospects for spatial liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) as a powerful analytical technology „in wait‟ is discussed and supported by the presented data.

Graduation date: 2006 / This research addresses sample process variance estimation on continuous domains and for non-probability samples in particular. The motivation for the research is a scenario in which a program has collected non-probability samples for which there is interest in characterizing how much an extrapolation to the domain would vary given similarly arranged collections of observations. This research does not address the risk of bias and a key assumption is that the observations could represent the response on the domain of interest. This excludes any hot-spot monitoring programs. The research is presented as a collection of three manuscripts. The first (to be published in Environmetrics (2006)) reviews and compares model- and design-based approaches for sampling and estimation in the context of continuous domains and promotes a model-assisted sample-process variance estimator. The next two manuscripts are written to be companion papers. With the objective of quantifying uncertainty of an estimator based on a non-probability sample, the proposed approach is to first characterize a class of sets of locations that are similarly arranged to the collection of locations in the non-probability sample, and then to predict variability of an estimate over that class of sets using the covariance structure indicated by the non-probability sample (assuming the covariance structure is indicative of the covariance structure on the study region). The first of the companion papers discusses characterizing classes of similarly arranged sets with the specification of a metric density. Goodness-of-fit tests are demonstrated on several types of patterns (dispersed, random and clustered) and on a non-probability collection of locations surveyed by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife on the Alsea River basin in Oregon. The second paper addresses predicting the variability of an estimate over sets in a class of sets (using a Monte Carlo process on a simulated response with appropriate covariance structure).

Novel event-triggered sensing and actuation strategies are presented for networked control systems with limited communication resources. Two architectures are considered: one with the controller co-located with the sensor and one with the control co-located with the actuator. A stochastic control problem with an optimal stopping rule is shown to capture two interesting instances of these architectures. The solution of the problem leads to a parametrization of the control alphabet as piecewise constant commands. The execution of the control commands is triggered by stopping rules for the sensor. In simple situations, it is possible to analytically derive the optimal controller. Examples illustrate how the new event-based control and sensing strategies outperform conventional time-triggered schemes. / <p>© 2008 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Qc 20120220</p>

Background Mathematical modeling combined with prior knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of the liver specific contrast agent Gd-EOB-DTPA has the potential to extract more information from Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) data than previously possible. The ultimate goal of that work is to create a liver model that can describe DCE-MRI data well enough to be used as a diagnostic tool in liver function evaluation. Thus far this goal has not been fully reached and there is still some work to be done in this area. In this thesis, an already existing liver model will be implemented in the software Wolfram SystemModeler (WSM), the corresponding modeling framework will be further developed to better handle the temporally irregular sampling of DCE-MRI data and finally an attempt will be made to determine an optimal sampling design in terms of when and how often to collect images. In addition to these original goals, the work done during this project revealed two more issues that needed to be dealt with. Firstly, new standard deviation (SD) estimation methods regarding non-averaged DCE-MRI data were required in order to statistically evaluate the models. Secondly, the original model’s poor capability of describing the early dynamics of the system led to the creation of an additional liver model in attempt to model the bolus effect. Results The model was successfully implemented in WSM whereafter regional optimization was implemented as an attempt to handle clustered data. Tests on the available data did not result in any substantial difference in optimization outcome, but since the analyses were performed on only three patient data sets this is not enough to disregard the method. As a means of determining optimal sampling times, the determinant of the inverse Fisher Information Matrix was minimized, which revealed that frequent sampling is most important during the initial phase (~50-300 s post injection) and at the very end (~1500-1800 s). Three new means of estimating the SD were proposed. Of these three, a spatio-temporal SD was deemed most reasonable under the current circumstances. If a better initial fit is achieved, yet another method of estimating the variance as an optimization parameter might be implemented.    As a result of the new standard deviation the model failed to be statistically accepted during optimizations. The additional model that was created to include the bolus effect, and therefore be better able to fit the initial phase data, was also rejected. Conclusions The value of regional optimization is uncertain at this time and additional tests must be made on a large number of patient data sets in order to determine its value. The Fisher Information Matrix will be of great use in determining when and how often to sample once the model has achieved a more acceptable model fit in both the early and the late phase of the system. Even though the indications that it is important to sample densely in the early phase is rather intuitive due to a poor model fit in that region, the analyses also revealed that the final observations have a relatively high impact on the model prediction error. This was not previously known. Hence, an important measurement of how suitable the sampling design is in terms of the resulting model accuracy has been suggested. The original model was rejected due to its inability to fit the data during the early phase. This poor initial fit could not be improved enough by modelling the bolus effect and so the new implementation of the model was also rejected. Recommendations have been made in this thesis that might assist in the further development the liver model so that it can describe the true physiology and behaviour of the system in all phases. Such recommendations include, but are not limited to, the addition of an extra blood plasma compartment, a more thorough modelling of the spleen’s uptake of the contrast agent and a separation of certain differing signals that are now averaged.

Regnvatten, smältvatten och spolvatten som rinner av från hårdgjorda ytor kallas dagvatten. Dagvatten är ofta förorenat av tungmetaller eller svårnedbrytbara organiska ämnen, som kan göra stor skada om vattnet inte renas innan det når recipienten. I dagsläget finns det inga nationellt fastslagna riktvärden för föroreningshalter i dagvatten. Dagvattengruppen på Vattenfall AB Värme Uppsala har tillsammans med miljökontoret i Uppsala tagit fram riktvärden för föroreningshalter från kvarteret Brännugnen, som området som studerats i detta examensarbete kallas. Vattenfall har idag problem med att klara dessa riktvärden för bland annat metaller i en del av kvarterets dagvattenbrunnar. För att reducera utsläppet av föroreningar till dagvattennätet från kvarteret Brännugnen har därför denna dagvattenutredning genomförts. Genom platsundersökningar och provtagning på dagvattnet i sex punkter har källor till föroreningar identifierats. Förslag på åtgärder har tagits fram genom litteraturstudier, platsundersökningar och samtal och diskussioner med erfaren personal. Studien har också resulterat i förslag på en förbättrad provtagningsstrategi som ger en mer korrekt bild av utsläppta mängder föroreningar per år. Målsättningen var att den nya provtagningsstrategin skulle vara mer kostnadseffektiv vilket uppnåddes. I dagvattenstudien undersöktes också om rening sker i det underjordiska magasin som dagvattnet från halva kvarteret Brännugnen leds till. Resultatet visade att ingen rening sker i magasinet, då uppehållstiden är för kort för att partiklar ska hinna sedimentera. Förutom vatten från regn- och snösmältning kommer även kondensat och processvatten till dagvattennätet från kvarteret Brännugnen. Ett av målen i utredningen var att undersöka hur mycket kondensatet bidrar till den utsläppta mängden metaller. Provtagning av kondensat och dagvatten visade tillsammans med flödesberäkningar att kondensatet har en stor påverkan på hur stor mängd förorening som släpps ut per år. Riktvärden studerades också i denna dagvattenutredning, slutsatsen är att de riktvärden som Vattenfall förhåller sig till i dag är låga. Både schablonhalterna för värmeverk och vägdagvatten samt analysresultat av dagvatten från vägen utanför området överskrider Vattenfalls riktvärden för dagvatten. Slutligen skulle dagvattenstudien resultera i förslag på framtida åtgärder för rening av dagvattnet från kvarteret Brännugnen i form av tekniska lösningar. Avsättningsmagasin under mark och filteranläggning är två lösningar som är lämpliga för rening av dagvattnet med hänsyn till föroreningar och flöden. Kostnaden beror mycket på vilket flöde som blir dimensionerande. / Stormwater is rain and snow melt that runs off from hard surfaces. Stormwater is often polluted with heavy metals and organic pollutants, which can cause great damage if the water is not treated before it reaches the recipient. There are no national guidelines for threshold values of pollutants in stormwater. The stormwater group at Vattenfall AB Heat Uppsala and the environmental department at Uppsala municipality have together established threshold values for pollutants in the stormwater from the area Brännugnen, which is the name of the investigated area. Vattenfall has difficulties to keep the concentration of pollutants in the stormwater below the threshold values. To reduce the content of contaminants in the stormwater from the area Brännugnen this study was therefore carried out. Through site investigations and sampling of stormwater in six measuring points, sources of the contaminants were identified. Through literature studies, site investigations and discussions with experienced personnel, propositions of actions to avoid contamination of the stormwater have been developed. The stormwater study has also led to suggestion of an improved sampling strategy which better represents the amount of contaminants in the stormwater and is more cost-effective. The study included an investigation with the purpose to find out if the magazine that the stormwater from half of the area runs to have the capacity to reduce the contaminants. The results showed no reduction of contaminants. The reason is that the residence time is too short for the particles to have time to settle. In the study the contribution from condensate to the total amount of emitted metals in the stormwater was investigated. The condensate passes a treatment plant for purification before being discharged to the stormwater pipes. The result shows that the condensate has a large impact on the amount of emitted metals per year. Threshold values and standard values for stormwater was also studied, the conclusion is that the threshold values for the stormwater from the area Brännugnen are low. Both standard values for stormwater from thermal power stations and roads are higher than the threshold values. The results from the analyses of stormwater from the road outside the area Brännugnen also show higher concentrations of metals than the threshold values. Finally the stormwater study resulted in suggestions of technical solutions for future treatment of the stormwater from the area Brännugnen. An underground sedimentation magazine and a filter system are two treatment processes that can be used for removal of pollutants in the stormwater from the area Brännugnen.

A megacity is generally defined as a city that, together with its suburbs or recognised metropolitan area, has a total population of more than 10 million people. Air pollution in megacities is a major concern due to large increases of populations over the past decades. Increases of air pollution result from more anthropogenic emission sources in megacities, which include energy production, transportation, industrial activities and domestic fuel burning. In the developing parts of Africa, urbanisation is increasing rapidly, with growth rates of populations in cities of up to 5% per annum. The major driving forces for these population increases in African countries can be attributed to population growth, natural disasters and armed ethnic conflicts. In South Africa, 62% of the total population lived in cities in 2010. The rate of urbanisation growth is predicted to be 1.2% per annum. The largest urbanised city in South Africa is the Johannesburg-Pretoria conurbation (referred to as Jhb-Pta megacity) that has more than 10 million inhabitants. Johannesburg is considered to be the central hub of economic activities and -growth in South Africa. The larger conurbation includes all the suburbs of Johannesburg and Pretoria. In South Africa, household combustion and traffic emissions are major sources of pollutants in urbanised areas. The major pollutants emitted from these activities include nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulphur dioxide (SO2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), particular matter (PM) and various organic compounds. The Jhb-Pta megacity is also located relatively close to large industrialised regions in South Africa, i.e. the Mpumalanga Highveld and the Vaal Triangle. Very few air quality modelling studies have been conducted for the Jhb-Pta megacity. According to the knowledge of the author, no literature existed in peer-reviewed publications at the time of the study. An in-depth modelling study was therefore conducted to assess the current state of air quality within the Jhb-Pta megacity. The main objectives were to optimise an existing photochemical box model for the Jhb-Pta megacity and to utilise the model to investigate the photochemical processes in the Jhb-Pta megacity and surrounding areas. In this investigation, ground-based measurements of criteria atmospheric pollutant species representative of the Jhb- Pta megacity were obtained to utilise as input data in the model, as well as to compare to results determined with the model. From the ground-based measurements, the possible contribution of the Jhb-Pta megacity to the NO2 hotspot observed over the South African Highveld from satellite retrievals was also contextualised. Five ground-based monitoring sites were situated strategically within the boundaries of the Jhb- Pta megacity to measure the direct influences of urban air pollution, e.g. traffic emissions, biomass burning and residential pollution. One measurement site was situated outside the modelling domain in order to collect rural background data in close proximity to the Jhb-Pta megacity. All the air quality stations continuously measured the criteria pollutants NOx, SO2 and O3. In addition, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) were measured at four sites. Passive sampling of NOx, SO2 , O3 and BTEX was also conducted in March and April 2010. Active data was obtained for March to May 2009, since no active measurements were available for the same year that passive sampling was performed due to logistical reasons. Meteorological parameters that included temperature, pressure and relative humidity were also measured at the monitoring stations Ground-based measurements provided a good indication of the state of the air quality in the Jhb-Pta megacity. The air quality levels of NO2 , SO2 , O3 and BTEX could be compared to other cities in the world. A distinct diurnal cycle was observed for NO2 at most of the stations. An early morning peak between 6:00 and 9:00 coincided with the time that commuters travel to work, whereas an evening peak between 18:00 and 21:00 could be attributed to traffic emissions and household combustion. Levels of O3, which is a secondary pollutant, peaked between 13:00 and 15:00. This diurnal pattern could be attributed to the photochemical formation of O3 from precursor species NO and VOCs. Toluene was predominantly higher than the other BTEX species. Benzene and xylene concentrations were in the same order, while the lowest levels were measured for ethyl benzene Ground-based measurements also indicated that the NO2 Highveld hotspot, which is well known in the international science community due to its prominence in satellite images, is accompanied by a second hotspot over the Jhb-Pta megacity. Peak NO2 pollution levels in the Jhb-Pta megacity exceeded the maximum daily Highveld values during the morning and evening rush hours. This result is significant for the more than 10 million people living in the Jhb-Pta megacity. Although satellite instruments have been extremely valuable in pointing out global hotspots, a limitation of satellite retrievals due to their specific overpass times has been presented. Chemical processes in the Jhb-Pta megacity were investigated by utilising an existing photochemical box model, i.e. MECCA-MCM. This model was further developed in this study and was termed the MECCA-MCM-UPWIND model. This model included horizontal and vertical mixing processes in the atmosphere. These processes were included to simulate the advection of upwind air masses into the modelling domain, as well as the entrainment from the troposphere resulting from the diurnal mixing layer (ML) height variation. Three processes, i.e. horizontal mixing, vertical mixing and ML height variation, were built into the MECCA-MCM- UPWIND model. The model was tested and evaluated to determine the efficiency of the model to represent atmospheric mixing processes. MECCA-MCM-UPWIND simulated horizontal mixing, vertical entrainment and ML height variations as expected. The input data for the model runs for the Jhb-Pta megacity modelling runs were either obtained from ground-based measurements or literature. Input data included meteorology, emission inventory, ML height and mixing ratios of the atmospheric chemical species. The chemical composition of the air mass entering the Jhb-Pta megacity was determined with MECCA-MCM- UPWIND. The concentrations and diurnal variability of criteria pollutant species were well predicted with the MECCA-MCM-UPWIND model. The day-time chemistry, especially, compared well, while slight under-predictions were observed for the night-time chemistry for most of the species. The differences observed between modelled and measured data could partially be ascribed to uncertainties associated with some of the input data obtained from literature used. The MECCA-MCM-UPWIND model was used to perform sensitivity studies on the influence of different parameters on O3 levels in the Jhb-Pta megacity. Possible scenarios to alter or mitigate pollution were also investigated. The results from the sensitivity analyses showed that O3 mixing ratios decreased within the Jhb-Pta megacity with increasing wind speeds. The contribution of local emissions to the change in the concentration of pollutants is reduced at higher wind speeds. It also indicated that the Mpumalanga Highveld can potentially be a source of NOx in the Jhb-Pta megacity that can lead to the titration of O3 . This also implies that if the air quality of the surrounding area improves, the concentration of the secondary pollutant O 3 will increase in the Jhb-Pta megacity due to the decrease in the titration of O3 . Sensitivity analyses also indicated that the Jhb-Pta megacity is a VOC-limited (or NOx-saturated) regime. Therefore, O3 reduction in the Jhb-Pta megacity will mostly be effective if VOC emissions are reduced. The same effect was observed in various cities world-wide where O3 increased when NOx emissions the Jhb-Pta megacity on the instantaneous production of O 3 was also investigated. A significant increase of approximately 23ppb O3 production was observed when changing from Euro-0 to Euro-3 vehicles with lower emissions of VOCs, NOx and CO. This compares with other modelled sensitivity studies of traffic emissions that also predict that future urban O 3 concentrations will increase in many cities by 2050 due to the reduction in the NOx titration of O3 despite the implementation of O3 control regulations / Thesis (PhD (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

A megacity is generally defined as a city that, together with its suburbs or recognised metropolitan area, has a total population of more than 10 million people. Air pollution in megacities is a major concern due to large increases of populations over the past decades. Increases of air pollution result from more anthropogenic emission sources in megacities, which include energy production, transportation, industrial activities and domestic fuel burning. In the developing parts of Africa, urbanisation is increasing rapidly, with growth rates of populations in cities of up to 5% per annum. The major driving forces for these population increases in African countries can be attributed to population growth, natural disasters and armed ethnic conflicts. In South Africa, 62% of the total population lived in cities in 2010. The rate of urbanisation growth is predicted to be 1.2% per annum. The largest urbanised city in South Africa is the Johannesburg-Pretoria conurbation (referred to as Jhb-Pta megacity) that has more than 10 million inhabitants. Johannesburg is considered to be the central hub of economic activities and -growth in South Africa. The larger conurbation includes all the suburbs of Johannesburg and Pretoria. In South Africa, household combustion and traffic emissions are major sources of pollutants in urbanised areas. The major pollutants emitted from these activities include nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulphur dioxide (SO2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), particular matter (PM) and various organic compounds. The Jhb-Pta megacity is also located relatively close to large industrialised regions in South Africa, i.e. the Mpumalanga Highveld and the Vaal Triangle. Very few air quality modelling studies have been conducted for the Jhb-Pta megacity. According to the knowledge of the author, no literature existed in peer-reviewed publications at the time of the study. An in-depth modelling study was therefore conducted to assess the current state of air quality within the Jhb-Pta megacity. The main objectives were to optimise an existing photochemical box model for the Jhb-Pta megacity and to utilise the model to investigate the photochemical processes in the Jhb-Pta megacity and surrounding areas. In this investigation, ground-based measurements of criteria atmospheric pollutant species representative of the Jhb- Pta megacity were obtained to utilise as input data in the model, as well as to compare to results determined with the model. From the ground-based measurements, the possible contribution of the Jhb-Pta megacity to the NO2 hotspot observed over the South African Highveld from satellite retrievals was also contextualised. Five ground-based monitoring sites were situated strategically within the boundaries of the Jhb- Pta megacity to measure the direct influences of urban air pollution, e.g. traffic emissions, biomass burning and residential pollution. One measurement site was situated outside the modelling domain in order to collect rural background data in close proximity to the Jhb-Pta megacity. All the air quality stations continuously measured the criteria pollutants NOx, SO2 and O3. In addition, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) were measured at four sites. Passive sampling of NOx, SO2 , O3 and BTEX was also conducted in March and April 2010. Active data was obtained for March to May 2009, since no active measurements were available for the same year that passive sampling was performed due to logistical reasons. Meteorological parameters that included temperature, pressure and relative humidity were also measured at the monitoring stations Ground-based measurements provided a good indication of the state of the air quality in the Jhb-Pta megacity. The air quality levels of NO2 , SO2 , O3 and BTEX could be compared to other cities in the world. A distinct diurnal cycle was observed for NO2 at most of the stations. An early morning peak between 6:00 and 9:00 coincided with the time that commuters travel to work, whereas an evening peak between 18:00 and 21:00 could be attributed to traffic emissions and household combustion. Levels of O3, which is a secondary pollutant, peaked between 13:00 and 15:00. This diurnal pattern could be attributed to the photochemical formation of O3 from precursor species NO and VOCs. Toluene was predominantly higher than the other BTEX species. Benzene and xylene concentrations were in the same order, while the lowest levels were measured for ethyl benzene Ground-based measurements also indicated that the NO2 Highveld hotspot, which is well known in the international science community due to its prominence in satellite images, is accompanied by a second hotspot over the Jhb-Pta megacity. Peak NO2 pollution levels in the Jhb-Pta megacity exceeded the maximum daily Highveld values during the morning and evening rush hours. This result is significant for the more than 10 million people living in the Jhb-Pta megacity. Although satellite instruments have been extremely valuable in pointing out global hotspots, a limitation of satellite retrievals due to their specific overpass times has been presented. Chemical processes in the Jhb-Pta megacity were investigated by utilising an existing photochemical box model, i.e. MECCA-MCM. This model was further developed in this study and was termed the MECCA-MCM-UPWIND model. This model included horizontal and vertical mixing processes in the atmosphere. These processes were included to simulate the advection of upwind air masses into the modelling domain, as well as the entrainment from the troposphere resulting from the diurnal mixing layer (ML) height variation. Three processes, i.e. horizontal mixing, vertical mixing and ML height variation, were built into the MECCA-MCM- UPWIND model. The model was tested and evaluated to determine the efficiency of the model to represent atmospheric mixing processes. MECCA-MCM-UPWIND simulated horizontal mixing, vertical entrainment and ML height variations as expected. The input data for the model runs for the Jhb-Pta megacity modelling runs were either obtained from ground-based measurements or literature. Input data included meteorology, emission inventory, ML height and mixing ratios of the atmospheric chemical species. The chemical composition of the air mass entering the Jhb-Pta megacity was determined with MECCA-MCM- UPWIND. The concentrations and diurnal variability of criteria pollutant species were well predicted with the MECCA-MCM-UPWIND model. The day-time chemistry, especially, compared well, while slight under-predictions were observed for the night-time chemistry for most of the species. The differences observed between modelled and measured data could partially be ascribed to uncertainties associated with some of the input data obtained from literature used. The MECCA-MCM-UPWIND model was used to perform sensitivity studies on the influence of different parameters on O3 levels in the Jhb-Pta megacity. Possible scenarios to alter or mitigate pollution were also investigated. The results from the sensitivity analyses showed that O3 mixing ratios decreased within the Jhb-Pta megacity with increasing wind speeds. The contribution of local emissions to the change in the concentration of pollutants is reduced at higher wind speeds. It also indicated that the Mpumalanga Highveld can potentially be a source of NOx in the Jhb-Pta megacity that can lead to the titration of O3 . This also implies that if the air quality of the surrounding area improves, the concentration of the secondary pollutant O 3 will increase in the Jhb-Pta megacity due to the decrease in the titration of O3 . Sensitivity analyses also indicated that the Jhb-Pta megacity is a VOC-limited (or NOx-saturated) regime. Therefore, O3 reduction in the Jhb-Pta megacity will mostly be effective if VOC emissions are reduced. The same effect was observed in various cities world-wide where O3 increased when NOx emissions the Jhb-Pta megacity on the instantaneous production of O 3 was also investigated. A significant increase of approximately 23ppb O3 production was observed when changing from Euro-0 to Euro-3 vehicles with lower emissions of VOCs, NOx and CO. This compares with other modelled sensitivity studies of traffic emissions that also predict that future urban O 3 concentrations will increase in many cities by 2050 due to the reduction in the NOx titration of O3 despite the implementation of O3 control regulations / Thesis (PhD (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

In the last few years Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have become an interesting field of research mainly due to the challenges and constraints of their design and the broad range of potential applications they can provide. One of the most important constraints is the limited energy resources of the sensor nodes that directly influences the design of the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, as it is the responsible of controlling the transceiver that is the most consuming component of a sensor node. In this thesis the limitations of preamble sampling, one of the most well-known MAC protocols for WSNs, have been studied. Moreover, a new approach, called Low power listening with Wake up after Transmissions MAC (LWT-MAC), has been designed with the goal to overcome preamble sampling limitations while maintaining its reduced energy consumption and simplicity. The performance results obtained have shown that the LWT-MAC protocol is able to significantly improve the performance of WSNs. / Les xarxes de sensors sense fils han esdevingut una interessant àrea de recerca degut als reptes que presenta el seu disseny i a la gran quantitat d’aplicacions potencials que poden proporcionar. Un dels principals problemes d’aquestes xarxes és la limitació en els recursos energètics dels nodes sensors, cosa que afecta directament al disseny del nivell Medium Access Control (MAC), degut a què és el responsable de controlar la ràdio, el component de major consum energètic d’un node sensor. En aquesta tesi s’estudien les limitacions d'un dels protocols MAC per xarxes de sensors més conegut: preamble sampling. A més, s’ha dissenyat un nou protocol, anomenat Low power listening with Wake up after Transmissions MAC (LWT-MAC), amb l’objectiu de reduir les limitacions de preamble sampling però mantenint el seu baix consum energètic i la seva simplicitat. Els resultats obtinguts mostren que el protocol LWT-MAC és capaç de millorar de forma significativa el rendiment de la xarxa.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2002. / Härtill 4 uppsatser och 1 appendix.